In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Saturday 5 November 2011

BATMAN: THE MOVIE [1966]


POW! BIFF! KERSPLAT!
That's the sound of your brain taking a beating as you sit through this film. Not to say I didn't enjoy it...because I did to a certain point. It's just mind-numbingly bad at times.
Mayor Adam West and uber-dork Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo are actually quite entertaining and hilarious in their shiny undies with "lumps". Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith and Frank Gorshin delightfully reprise their campy television roles as The mustached Joker, The Penguin and The Riddler. While Lee Meriwether steps in for Julie Newmar as the boring but sexy Catwoman.
Using less brains and more luck to defeat his enemies, this Batman almost accurately represents the comic books of that era when they were neutered by the censors.

3 Bat-stars out of 5

8 comments:

budarc said...

3 seems like a safe choice.

Is it Bat-month and nobody told me?

cuckoo said...

I almost gave it a 2½ but went for a walk and thought about it and the 3 male villains make it a 3 for sure. They're simply a delight to watch.

It's just turned into Bat-month by coincidence. Before October I knew I was going to run through all the live action Bat-films in November. Doc and Ndi just happen to be running through the DC animated universe simultaneously.

That...and we're all perverts with bat-crotch.

Marceline said...

Doc mentioned doing the DC animated stuff to me since I'd said I was going to watch Return of the Joker. I've got one more Batman film coming tonight.

There's a part of me that'd would give this one a 3.5, but I think that's mostly because the TV series isn't available on DVD and this is.

budarc said...

"Before October I knew I was going to run through all the live action Bat-films in November."

I watched Batman and Batman Returns last month during my brief Burton marathon, but decided to leave the nuts to someone else. As it stands, I think I would give them a 4 and 4.5 respectively, but only as compared to the rest of his filmography.

"There's a part of me that'd would give this one a 3.5, but I think that's mostly because the TV series isn't available on DVD and this is."

Same here. I have fond memories of watching back-to-back reruns as a kid, right before Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. God, I had such a crush on Barbara Eden...

cuckoo said...

The Burton films get the same from me.

I all ready posted by ratings on STS at the beginning of October....but that was it.

They may change as I run through them...not likely though. I've seen 'em all at least 5 times. Except B&R and The Dark Knight.

I don't think I've ever run through B&R front to back yet...and I've only seen The Dark Knight twice.

budarc said...

I never thought Batman & Robin was all that bad. Still, I'd only give it like a 2.5.

Batman Begins is probably my favorite overall Batman film, followed closely by Returns (stylistically the best). I never saw Dark Knight a second time, although I remember Ledger's performance fondly.

1989 Batman doesn't hold up as well as I remember, but there's no denying it's a classic. And the highlight of Batman Forever for me was Jim Carrey.

Dr Faustus said...

Isn't this the one with the rubber shark?

I'm having a Batman binge this month.
I'll be watching the 2 Burton ones (not Nutting) and a few more of the animations.

cuckoo said...

Rubber shark indeed. I'm in the middle of the first Burton film...took a pee break and thought I'd check my e-mail but couldn't help but chuckle at the double review of Musa. XD